A/HRC/18/35/Add.2 especially considering the lack of legal protection of Sami lands and resource use in Finland. 60. Additionally, climate change, though clearly a global problem, has particular adverse effects on people such as the Sami who depend upon the arctic climate for their livelihoods. As winter temperatures rise due to global warming, snow thaws and melts into the lichen that reindeer eat, and when temperatures then drop below freezing, the lichen is encased in ice making it very difficult for the reindeer to eat and digest. Also, summer pastures may change from open to shrub vegetation land and herders are finding it necessary to move their herds to drier ground. Thus, considerable efforts need to be directed towards reducing the vulnerability of reindeer husbandry to the effects of climate change, and research should be carried out towards this end. 61. At the same time, responses to the global climate change problem should not themselves pose threats to Sami livelihoods. For example, demand for sustainable energy has resulted in a potential windmill construction boom on the coast of Troms and Finnmark in Norway, severely affecting reindeer calving grounds. In Sweden, 35 per cent of areas identified as locations for wind power are within core reindeer herding areas, and there are plans for more than 2,000 windmills to be established within reindeer grazing lands. The Swedish Government granted permission for what would be the world’s largest land-based wind power park in the municipality of Piteå, where the Sami community of Östra Kikkejaur has its winter reindeer herding pastures. 62. In many parts of the reindeer herding areas, predator animals, mainly wolf, wolverine, lynx, brown bear and eagle, are causing as great or even greater a threat to reindeer husbandry as extractive industries. The Swedish Agriculture University has calculated that in Sweden, at least 60,000 reindeer, out of a total number of about 260,000, fall prey to predators every year. The number of reindeer killed by predators in certain areas has reached such levels that there is an imminent risk that herds can no longer sufficiently reproduce themselves, which can result in a “collapse” of the herd in only a few years. Government regulation severely restricts the reindeer herders’ right to protect their herds from predators, and Government compensation has only partly covered the damages caused to the reindeer herders by the predators. According to the Government of Finland, however, its new Game Damages Act establishes improved compensation for damages to herds caused by carnivores. C. Maintaining languages 63. The Sami languages are vital to the Sami people across the Nordic countries as they are central to Sami identity and essential to their survival as a people. However, the great variety of Sami languages is decreasing. The Special Rapporteur heard reports of the devastating effects of the Second World War on Sami education and language, which resulted in Sami people without schooling in any language for several years, with negative effects on literacy and on the capacity to pass on language abilities to future generations. Present-day factors also contribute to the loss of Sami languages, including the lack of Sami spoken outside of the home in most areas and the fact that those who speak the Sami language are spread out over large areas. In particular, the Ánar and Skolt Sami spoken in Finland, and the Southern Sami and Lule Sami spoken in Sweden and Norway, are on the verge of extinction, while the Northern Sami spoken in Finland is in a vulnerable position. 64. In Norway, the right of Sami people to preserve and develop their languages in various contexts is recognized in the Constitution and in numerous laws, including the Sami Act of 1987. Further, work is being carried out in Norway, including through the Sami Parliament, to revitalize the Sami languages within the Sápmi region, and the Government is developing an extensive “Action Plan to Strengthen Sami Languages” towards this end. 17